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Top 10 national parks: Go wild

More than 278 million people visit our national parks annually, according to the National Park Service. Americans can choose from 59 parks located throughout the U.S., as well as in two territories, the U.S. Virgin Islands and American Samoa. Active Times recently took on the challenging task of ranking all 59 National Parks, using three measures. To evaluate conserving its location as a natural habitat, 25% of a park score was based on park biodiversity, or the number of plant and animal species living there. Range of visitor activities from hiking to fishing to bird-watching made up the second 25%. Finally, 50% of a park’s value was determined by the opinions of a 17-member expert panel, including writers, landscape photographers, travel professionals and former Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar. Here are the Top 10 National Parks from Active Times’ list. At left, Yellowstone National Park.

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10. Denali National Park, Alaska

This Alaskan wonderland stretches over six million acres of wild taiga forest, high alpine tundra and snowy mountains including Mount McKinley, America’s tallest peak at 20,320 feet. Only one 92-mile road runs through the unfenced wilderness, home to a wide variety of animals, including 169 bird species and polar bears. In 2010, Touropia.com ranked Denali National Park fourth in its top 10 best destinations world-wide for a bear safari, but many people come here simply for the solitude afforded by the pristine natural glacier-created vistas. Park website. At left, bears play in an open filed in Denali National Park, Alaska

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9. Sequoia National Park, California

“Sequoia is definitely more than it appears to be,” according to Kurt Repanshek, founder and editor in chief of NationalParksTraveler.com website and a member of Active Times’ expert panel. In other words, the reason this park in the southern Sierra Nevada east of Fresno made the ninth spot on the list is not only because of its magnificent ancient trees. Its amazing natural assets also include mountains with elevations of up to 14,494 feet “into which you can vanish for days on end,” and more than 250 caves underneath Sequoia and neighboring Kings Canyon National Park including “rooms” as large as 50 feet across, Repanshek said. Park website.

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8. Olympic National Park, Washington

Located on a peninsula across Puget Sound from Seattle, Washington, Olympic National Park is often described as three parks in one. Its pristine peaks afford a climber’s paradise and offer stunning views of wildflower meadows. The valleys contain some of the nation’s most ancient trees in lush Pacific Northwest rain forests. The coastline features foaming, colorful ocean tide pools teeming with sea stars. However, Olympic is a hiker’s paradise. Bring your backpack since there is no road to cross its expanse and see all that natural beauty from a car window. Park website. At left, Shi Shi Beach at Olympic National Park.

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7. Zion National Park, Utah

Zion made the list as representative of the breathtaking natural vistas of the state of Utah. Cream, pink and red sandstone cliffs tower above in geologic formations created over 250 million years, including a time when the area was a shallow sea. But visitors will also want to look down to the ground and take in the more than 1,000 plant species that thrive in multiple ecosystems include desert, river bank and woodlands. Zion is favorite of Canyoneers who enjoy the challenge of the Narrows, a gorge created by the Virgin River and exploring the underground Subway. Keep an eye out for California condors which recently have been increasingly spotted here. Park website

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6. Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

Grand Teton National Park has some of the most spectacular mountains in the lower 48 states. Hikers who don’t mind climbing will relish exploring the multiday Teton Crest Trail where visitors may spot grizzly bears, wolves, mountain lions and even wolverines. But less rugged travelers can still savor the view from below while paddling along the Snake River or one of the park’s many alpine lakes. Be advised, however, winters last from November to early May, and as the pioneers who traversed and settled in the Jackson Hole Valley learned, can be unforgiving. The park’s record low temperature registered at 63° below 0 F. Park website

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5. Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

“Leave it as it is; the ages have been at work on it, and man can only mar it,” said President Theodore Roosevelt upon gazing down into this majestic divide which has become one of America’s most popular tourist destinations. America’s most iconic natural marvel is a mile deep, runs 277 miles of the Colorado River and spreads up to 18 miles wide. Most people—90% actually—visit the South Rim, easily accessible on the Arizona side and from Las Vegas, but the North Rim, near the Utah border, has its own equally fascinating scenery, climate and vegetation due to different elevations. Due to heavy snow in the winter, however, the North Rim only offers full visitor lodging and food services from May 15 through mid-October. Park website

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4. Glacier National Park, Montana

The aptly named Glacier National Park illustrates the power of the ice ages to sculpt landscapes ranging from rugged mountains to winding, crystalline lakes. Over 700 miles of walking trails allow hikers to experience spectacular views and solitude in forests and alpine meadows. Motorists and cyclists who don’t mind steep drops are welcome on the scenic 50-mile Going-to-the-Sun Road which includes a view of the Jackson Glacier Outlook. The park also features lodging in historic chalets and has a rich Native American history dating back 10,000 years. Park website

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3. Acadia National Park, Maine

“Say what you will about the West, but the Maine Coast is simply as iconic an American landscape as exists,” said Active Times panelist Randy Johnson, author of multiple national park guidebooks. Acadia National Park was the first national park founded east of the Mississippi River in 1919 and is the only East Coast park to make Active Times’ top 10. Reasons why it comes in at an impressive No. 3 include pristine ponds, breathtaking coastal vistas, Mount Desert Island which includes a vintage lighthouse, native blooms in the Wild Gardens of Acacia, hiking trails on granite peaks, and the opportunity to ride mountain bikes on evergreen-lined carriage roads. Also recommended by Johnson is lunch at the Jordan Pond House which has been serving since 1870. Park website

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2. Yosemite National Park, California

Less than 200 miles from San Francisco, Yosemite National Park comprises 1,200 square miles and is one of the nation’s best-known and oldest parks. The vast majority of visitors wander no further than the Yosemite Valley, just a mile wide and 7 miles long but breathtakingly beautiful thanks to towering waterfalls and glacier-hewn granite cliffs beloved by rock climbers. However, the vast expanse includes 800 miles of hiking trails and 282 miles of winding road through pine and giant Sequoia groves and the mountains of the High Sierra which support more than 400 species of vertebrate animals including bobcats, the Sierra Nevada red fox and black bears. Park website

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1. Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

America’s first national park, founded when President Ulysses Grant signed it into law on March 1, 1872, Yellowstone remains a superstar thanks to the wide variety of natural beauty within its 2.2 million acres. Famed geyser Old Faithful remains a must-see, but the park sports the world’s largest collection of thermal features and a diverse range of plants and animals from bison to bears in one of the last nearly undisturbed, natural ecosystems in the Earth’s temperate zone. Be forewarned that Yellowstone can get crowded in July and August, but those seeking solitude can still find it on the many backcountry trails, paddling on lakes and streams or by visiting off-season, although winter temperatures can drop to 40º below 0 F. Park website.

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